Satwik-Chirag win Thailand Open, defeat China duo

The World no. 3 pair, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty clinched their second Thailand Open Super 500 men’s doubles crown without dropping a game in Bangkok on May 19. 

Satwik-Chirag who had won their first Thailand Open crown back in 2019, rarely looked under pressure against their opponents throughout the tournament. They showed the same domination in the final as they defeated China’s Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi 21-15, 21-15 in just 46 minutes.

The Indian pair commenced the final by opening up a 5-1 lead before the Chinese had their best phase of the summit clash as they won nine of the next 11 points. Chirag and Satwik wrested control with some aggressive play and packed the opening game rather easily.

Satwik said, “Thailand Open has been a special tournament for us as we won our first Super 500 crown here and have won many more tournaments thereafter. We are hoping that this victory will start another winning run for us.”

Speaking about their performance in the final, Satwik said they played their best game against their Chinese opponents. “We knew that we cannot relax even for a single point against our opponents as they fight till the end. But we played our best game of the tournament today and controlled the situation very well,” he added.

The victory also helped the Indian combination earn 9200 ranking points and prize purse of approximately Rs 27,63,306.

The Indian pair had low returns in the last couple of tournaments. They lost in the second round at All England Championships and then missed the Asia Championships due to an injury to Satwik. The Thomas Cup campaign was also not too fruitful as they lost a couple of narrow matches to top pairs. The final appearance will thus provide a major boost ahead of the Paris Olympics.